Family questions sentence in child abuse case

SANTEE  On the morning of Sept. 18, 2009, Sophie Crew dropped off her 13-month-old daughter Emma at a home day care in Santee just like she had done a dozen times before.

Thirteen-month-old Emma Crew when she was at Rady Children’s Hospital in 2009. She was placed in a coma for 19 days after suffering severe brain trauma while with a day-care provider.
— Courtesy of Crew family

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Thirteen-month-old Emma Crew when she was at Rady Children’s Hospital in 2009. She was placed in a coma for 19 days after suffering severe brain trauma while with a day-care provider.
/ Courtesy of Crew family

Unlike before, Crew’s life — and the life of her daughter — forever changed during this stay.

“There’s been an accident. ... She’s not breathing,” Crew was told in a phone call from the day care around 11 a.m.

Emma’s life was in jeopardy.

She was taken to Rady Children’s Hospital and placed in a coma after doctors determined she had suffered severe brain trauma causing a subdural hematoma and retinal hemorrhages. Nearly half of Emma’s skull was removed to relieve swelling.

Day-care provider Patricia Bernal, 62, pleaded guilty in February to felony child abuse and was facing up to 12 years in prison for Emma’s injuries.

Bernal was sentenced this month by El Cajon Superior Court Judge John Thompson to one year in jail, as recommended by probation officials, and ordered to pay $6,224 in fines and $1,300 to the State Victim Compensation Board. She will be on probation for five years.

Thompson cited Bernal’s lack of a criminal record and more than 30-year work history as a rationale for her lesser sentence. The felony prohibits Bernal from working again in child care.

Emma’s mother wanted a longer sentence and told the judge that in court. She also addressed Bernal.

“Your sentence would end in 365 days. Emma’s sentence will never end. … Our lives have changed irrevocably due to your actions,” Crew said.

Bernal initially told authorities she saw Emma throw her head back into the wall through the mesh side of a portable crib. She said she left the room for several minutes and returned to find the girl unconscious.

But an investigation by the Sheriff’s Department of Emma’s case concluded “the victim’s injuries could not have been caused by an accidental self injury and that the defendant inflicted great bodily injury to the child,” according to court records.

In an interview after the sentencing, Crew said doctors who treated her daughter suspected shaken baby syndrome.

“They didn’t believe that story for one second,” she said. “There was no fracture in her skull and there was no hole in the wall. They knew immediately it was abuse.”

Emma, now 2, has a prosthetic skull on the left side of her head, no peripheral vision on the right side in both eyes, limited hearing in her left ear and some paralysis on the right side of her body.

Deputy District Attorney Claudia Grasso prosecuted the case and said she would have preferred Bernal be sent to prison, “given the injuries to little Emma.”

“We would have fought to the end, but I also trust Judge Thompson’s judgment and we will go with that,” Grasso said.

Court records show that when a probation worker interviewed Bernal before her sentencing hearing, she cried when asked about the incident and expressed sympathy for Emma and her family. Bernal said she had loved all of the children she had cared for, including Emma.

Though Crew said she is unhappy with Bernal’s sentence, she said she is looking ahead.

“We want to close this chapter and focus on Emma’s recovery and focus on her getting better,” Crew said.